Sometimes a winding road is actually the best way to get where you’re going.
I certainly didn’t know where I was headed when I first connected with Field of Hope, but I’m thankful for the winding road that eventually brought me here.
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Agriculture has always been an important part of who I am. I grew up on a cow/calf ranch in New Mexico. I knew early on that I wanted to pursue a career connected to agriculture and education. Teaching agriculture was the most obvious way to unite my interests, so I headed to New Mexico State University, planning to become an agriculture teacher.
Somewhere along that path, I realized the classroom wasn’t really where I wanted to be. I cared deeply about youth agricultural education, but I was more interested in exploring how agriculture and education could support people and communities beyond the walls of a classroom. That realization pointed me back toward the industry.
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I started interning with Vivayic during the final year of my undergraduate degree. One of my first projects was helping write lessons for the Field of Hope Teacher Guides and Supplements. I was so excited about the work, but I soon found myself sitting at my desk, staring at the computer, stuck on a lesson about vegetable growing. All I could think was, “I don’t know the first thing about life in Uganda,” and “Who am I to tell someone halfway around the world how to grow their crops?”
I pushed through the lesson writing, but the questions stayed with me: “How can these resources be culturally relevant when they’re written and used by people who live such different lives?”
Before long, those questions turned into an opportunity.
The following semester, I started graduate school, and I needed a topic for my thesis. I thought back to the questions I faced while writing lessons and saw a perfect intersection between my studies, job, and personal interests. I would research the cultural relevance of the teacher resources developed by Field of Hope and Vivayic!
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A few months later, I returned to Uganda as a Field of Hope Fellow. I spent that summer traveling around the country, working alongside the Field of Hope team, and trying to soak up every lesson I could about life and agriculture in Uganda.
One of the best lessons came from a little boy who had no idea he was my teacher.
The boy stood at the side of the road with an adult-sized bicycle lying on the ground beside him. As he stood the bike up, I thought, “There’s no way he can ride that thing. He can’t reach the seat, handlebars, and pedals at the same time.”
The boy put his hands on the handlebars, propped the bike against his body, and put his left foot on the pedal. He quickly swung his other leg through the middle of the frame, reached the opposite pedal, and took off down the road.
I laughed to myself and thought, “That’s one way to do it.” I was so impressed! He was riding the bike faster than I could have.
Almost instantly, I realized my “can’t” was less a reflection of his ability and more reflective of my limited creativity.
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Moments like that are what make me fall in love with Uganda over and over again. Every time I visit, I see people look at what is around them and imagine possibilities I would have missed:
It’s a teacher who picks up a leaf on the way to the classroom and uses it to keep students engaged through an entire lesson.
It’s a farmer who tests a new practice in a demonstration plot, patiently waits for the results, then brings knowledge back to her own field.
It’s a student who turns a plastic water bottle into a drip irrigation system for the school farm.
It’s a community that sees a new well not only as a source of clean water, but as more time for learning, farming, and building a better future.
That spirit of creativity—and the people behind it—kept drawing me back to Uganda long after my fellowship ended.
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After completing my fellowship, I joined Vivayic full-time as a Learning Designer and continued supporting its partnership with Field of Hope. Over time, my role shifted from contributing to individual projects to coordinating and leading key initiatives across the partnership. I guided the development of lessons and teacher training materials, managed projects across teams, returned to Uganda to help facilitate training, and worked closely with the Field of Hope team to carry ideas from concept through implementation.
Those years gave me something invaluable: time to watch, learn, and contribute.
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Now, joining Field of Hope as a Program Manager feels like a new stretch of this long, winding path—like something new, but also very familiar.
As we begin this new leg of the journey, I hope to work with the same curiosity that first brought me to Uganda. I have learned that the people closest to a community have the best understanding of its strengths, challenges, and opportunities. I believe meaningful change happens when we invest in those people—supporting farmers, teachers, students, and communities as they build on the knowledge, skills, and strengths they already possess. I want to continue asking thoughtful questions, listening well, understanding what has already been done, and supporting the talented people already doing the work.
I am most excited to continue working alongside the Field of Hope team. Over the years, they have shared their stories, answered countless questions, coached me through understanding life and agriculture in Uganda, and encouraged me as I developed my own interests and skills. Their knowledge, creativity, and commitment have shaped the way I think about our work, and I am excited to keep learning from them as we turn their ideas, knowledge, and vision into action.
A few years from now, when we are a little further down this road, I hope we can all look back and say we did well with the knowledge and resources we had at the time. I fully believe God is behind the work at Field of Hope, and I hope we can keep looking back and saying, “God was faithful, and so were we.”
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When I look at the road that brought me here, I see God’s hand in each turn: Vivayic introduced me to Field of Hope; my research led me to Uganda; that first trip pointed me to a fellowship; the fellowship shaped the way I worked at Vivayic; and my time at Vivayic prepared me for the role I am in today. Each turn in the road prepared me for the next one.
I never would have mapped that path myself, but I sure am thankful that the winding road brought me here.
About the author: Rebekah Barnett serves as the Program Manager for Field of Hope. She works closely with the Ugandan team to support farmers, educators, students, and communities by turning ideas into practical resources, training, and opportunities that build on local knowledge and strengths.
